A lot of things were going on today. There was the dentist, the veterinarian, the pharmacy, the market, the fishmonger, the supermarket, M. Parret and a rebellious gas grill. I won’t bore you with the details but amid all this to-ing and fro-ing, I was also trying to cook.

Jade has a choral concert tomorrow evening and her whole day will be spent rehearsing at the concert hall. The parents of the participants were charged with providing a lunch for their children, as there are no restaurant facilities at the hall. When Jade has an event like this, she likes to have a bento box to flaunt in front of her friends 🙂 In addition to this, Wednesday is her day off from school and I always make something special for her. Today she wanted grilled oysters.

And there was that skate, staring me boldly in the face at the fishmonger’s. It’s a nightmare!

Anyway, by the time I assembled the bento and had a few glasses with M. Parret, it was too dark to take pictures of the bento. But I got a few shots in before assembly. In Jade’s bento: Teriyaki veal meatballs, crispy honey mustard chicken nuggets, inarizushi with tuna, cheese cubes, radishes, quail eggs and grapes.

A few recipes.

Grilled Oysters with Ginger and Sweet Chilli Butter

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1/2 inch ginger, minced

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 ounces butter

12 oysters on the half shell

Blend garlic, ginger, chilli sauce, oil and butter. Place a small knob on each oyster and grill until bubbly.

Inarizushi with Tuna

1 cup rice

1 1/4 cup water

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 can tuna

1 tbsp mayonnaise

1 can aburaage pockets

Furikake

Wash the rice, bring to a boil in the water, lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes. Blend together the vinegar, sugar and salt until the sugar is dissolved, then pour over the hot rice, gently tossing to mix.

Mix the mayonnaise with the tuna.

Drain the aburaage, gently peel open, then stuff with a layer of rice, then tuna, then rice again. Sprinkle with your choice of furikake.

Crispy Honey Mustard Chicken Nuggets

4 chicken fillets, cut into nuggets

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Flour

Peanut Oil

1/4 cup mustard

2 tbsp honey

Season the chicken nuggets with salt, pepper, garlic powder, dredge in the flour and fry until golden brown in the peanut oil.

Mix the mustard and honey together, drizzle over the hot nuggets and toss to coat.

Honestly, if I didn’t see your photos on tastespotting, etc., half the time I wouldn’t see your blog at all because my WordPress reader continues to be so buggy. Lucky Jade! I had a big bento craze a couple of years ago — much to the amusement of my law partners who thought me insane. I love inarizushi.

Jade is a very lucky daughter! If I had a kid, she would be lucky to get just one of these. Jade gets them all! Her schoolmates must be so jealous. They probably just get a buttered baguette filled with ham.